Name of Kashmir creates an impression of beautiful mountains, lakes in our mind. At the same time, it also gives an impression of orchards, saffron fields and various fruits that are native products of this land. Cherry, peach, pear, raspberry, mulberry, plums, almonds, walnut, apricot, apples, kiwi, strawberry are different temperate fruits that grow in this region and attract the consumers. Agricultural fields in the plain region of central Kashmir have rich harvest of saffron, rice and mustard whereas hill regions are known for growing maize to meet the local food requirements. The economy of Kashmir is based on tourism but its benefits are localised to a few tourist destinations only which have adequate infrastructure. Remaining areas of Kashmir still have traditional agriculture-based economy.
Snowfall during winters plays a very important role in having a good agricultural yield in Kashmir. The Kashmir valley is located between Pir Panjal and Greater Himalayas Mountain ranges. The moisture laden winds originating from Mediterranean Sea bring rain and snow here. Generally, time between December to February is considered to be the snow season in Kashmir. It soaks the earth with water and moisture as well as deposits snow on mountain tops to cater for the water in the streams and rivers for the whole year. Due to effects of global warming, volume of snowfall received is decreasing every year which is a cause of concern for all the farmers. Dry spell during June and July can adversely affect the quality of agricultural product. In addition, early snow is received some times which spoils the un-plucked crop. Apple farming, the main cash crop, has been mostly affected by early snow. Imported high-density apple variety has been advocated by horticulture department to counter this problem since it has early harvesting date. However, farmers prefer to stick to traditional varieties since switching on to a new variety is a costly affair.
About 30% of the land area of Kashmir is under agriculture providing job to about 70% of the population and contributing to approximately 65% of the revenue earned by the Union Territory. Since the land is limited, it needs to have a balanced and judicious use to meet the needs of consumers and growing population. Due to improvement in infrastructure, communication and transportation system; the agriculture industry has been benefitted to a large extent. The harvested products reach the market faster in fresher condition and provide better rates. Azadpur Mandi of Delhi receives about 70% of fruit products from Kashmir and then it is further distributed to different consumer destinations. Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad are other destinations that directly receive the agricultural products from Kashmir. Improvement in road and transport has contributed richly to a more effective supply chain mechanism. Making provision for registration of farmers in the local fruit mandis and availability of loan through nationalised banks and cooperatives at cheaper rates of interest has further helped the farmers in saving them from clutches of traditional money lenders who used to charge very heavy rates of interest. However, there is a need to create a greater number of cold storage and packaging facility in the union territory to provide more facilities to the farmers for their agricultural produce.
Rice is staple food and main food crop grown in Kashmir valley. However, due to colder climatic conditions, it can be grown only once in a year and takes longer to be ready for harvest. The per hectare production of paddy in the state is higher (3.1 ton/hectare) as compared to the national average (2 ton/hectare) production of paddy. Besides rice, maize is the second most widely grown food crop in Kashmir. It is mainly grown in Karewa, Kandi and hill areas. In addition; pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, saffron, flowers are also grown as agricultural products to meet the requirements of local populace as well as provide much needed money to the farmer. Production of pulses has seen almost 3.5 times jump in the production over the past eight years.
Agriculture in Kashmir has lots of potential to grow. It is already providing employment to a large part of local population and has promises to grow further with improvement in variety of seeds, fertiliser, irrigation and financial support to the farmers. Research institutions dealing in developing new varieties of pest resistant seeds with more yield per hectare are doing a commendable job. New rules have been implemented to ensure that maximum benefit of agricultural produce reaches the farmer and not the middleman. Improvement in transportation and communication has provided its inherent benefit to the agricultural sector. We are hopeful that the agricultural sector in Kashmir will perform even better and support even a lager section of population in earning their livelihood.
